There are a number of very tight races in New York and New Jersey to follow closely on election night, with some contests expected to be a lot closer than many may have expected a few months, or even weeks, ago.
Below are results from some of the most hotly contested races in the region, with some not having been called before Wednesday.
The New York governor's race between Gov. Kathy Hochul and Rep. Lee Zeldin became suddenly close in the final days and weeks of the campaign, but NBC News projected that Hochul would win, making history Tuesday by becoming the first woman to win election to the job. That result was anything but certain, as her opponent, Republican congressman Lee Zeldin, tapped into voter fears about violent crime and made the race competitive.
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In one of the most closely watched races across the country, U.S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, the five-term Democrat who was supposed to be leading his party's attempt to hold on to Congress, is fighting for survival in a district in the Hudson Valley.
Maloney, the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, faces Republican state Assemblyman Mike Lawler, who ran a spirited campaign focusing on the high cost of gasoline and other pocketbook issues.
Maloney, who was the first openly gay New Yorker elected to Congress, had a track record of winning in a Republican-leaning district, but the redistricting plan put him in a reconfigured territory where fewer voters know him.
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National Republican groups, sensing an opportunity, spent millions on advertisements supporting Lawler, a former executive director of the state Republican party who worked in local government before his election to the Assembly in 2020.
Further north in the Hudson Valley, freshly minted U.S. Rep. Pat Ryan, a Democrat, was trying to replicate his surprise win in an August special election.
Ryan boosted Democrats’ spirits after winning a race to finish out the term of former U.S. Rep. Antonio Delgado, who had resigned to become New York's lieutenant governor.
Ryan campaigned hard on abortion rights and national Democrats hoped his win could provide a roadmap for more congressional victories in November.
He was now running for a full term in a different district against Republican Colin Schmitt, a second-term state Assemblyman who campaigned on economic issues and his service as a sergeant in the Army National Guard.
Early Wednesday morning, Ryan declared victory and Schmitt issued his concession, however the race had not yet been called.
The lone Republican representative in New York City, Nicole Malliotakis, faced a rematch from Democrat Max Rose, competing in a district consisting of Staten Island and a slice of Brooklyn. Rose represented Staten Island in Congress until Malliotakis ousted him in 2020.
Malliotakis was projected to win re-election over Rose, according to NBC News.
The GOP went into Election Day optimistic that it could win in the newly drawn 7th District, where incumbent Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski had a rematch against Republican former state Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean Jr. The district picked up more Republican voters after its boundaries in the northwest were redrawn, and Kean took advantage, winning the district and flipping the seat for Republicans.
Malinowski, who had been seeking his third term, narrowly defeated Kean, a former state lawmaker and the son of former Republican Gov. Tom Kean Sr., in 2020. Malinowski first won election by defeating Republican incumbent Rep. Leonard Lance in 2018.
Malinowski, who is seeking his third term, narrowly defeated Kean, a former state lawmaker and the son of former Republican Gov. Tom Kean Sr., in 2020. Malinowski first won election by defeating Republican incumbent Rep. Leonard Lance in 2018.
That race was among the most closely watched in New Jersey, which has no statewide contests or ballot questions this year.
Kean seized on inflation as a top issue and hammers on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whom he is betting is unpopular with voters. Malinowski tried to cast Kean as too reliant on support from voters loyal to former President Donald Trump to represent the district, which swung from reliably GOP to Democratic control during his years in the White House.
Kean served as the top Republican in the state Senate from 2008 until this year after declining to seek office again in last year's election. Malinowski is a former Obama administration official and supported impeaching Trump as well the $1 trillion infrastructure bill that Democratic President Joe Biden signed a year ago.
